Chicano mural gets facelift

By RAY ARMENDARIZ
Staff Writer
If formerPCC student GiiiUenn#
iMartinez had walked into the C
building a few months ago, he would
have been very disappointed and
hurt to see what had happened to his
hard work.
His mural that has been hanging
in the G building since 1973 called
-'The Chicano Mind" is unknown to
many students.
It's so unknown that wheriit was
vandalized nobody said anything
until the right person noticed the
long slashes, coffee and soda stains
on the mural.
One day Bob Navarro, chairman
of engineering and technology
stopped to admire the mural and
noticed the damage. "It was ugly,"
he said. He decided that something
should be done to restore Martinez's
work. "My first concern was just to
have the cuts taken cared of. We
had no idea that the art department
would bring out the colors which
were fantastic."
La Raza member Imelda
Martinez, who is also an affirmative action representative, called
La Raza president Cela Espinoza
Hancuff, who brought up the need
for the restoration of the mural.
HOWARD BURGER/The COURIER
Mural about the ordeals of Chieanos was vandalized. It was restored by art professor Ben Sakoguchi.
'This is the only Mexican-American mural we have on campus and
we must preserve our art and tradition. La Raza's role is to ensure that
Latinos are treated fairly," Hancuff
said.
She added that "the old library
would be a good place to move the
m ural" and said that the new library
"would even be better."
"Guillermo was a student of mine
and I think it is horrible to see any
art damaged," said art proffesor
Ben Sakoguchi, who restored the
vandalized mural. He added that
Martinez would be more hurt than
angry to see the mural.
The southeast stairwell in the C
building between the second and
third floors where the mural hangs
was closed off while Sakoguchi
patched up the 2 foot by 7 inch
slashes from behind the mural.
.Hancuff helped clean with a mild
detergent.
"Hie restoring process took a
week and a half because we had to
let things dry before moving on.
After it was done I varnished it with
a gloss medium which is a polymer
arcrylic used for coating paintings,"
Sakoguchi said.
Sakoguchi hasn't heard from
Martinez since 1979 when Martinez
sent him a postcard from
Guanajuato, Mexico. "Since it's
the 20th anniversary, it would be
nice if Guillermo could come in
and give us his interpretation and
pick out its major point. Then we
could move it to a safer place," said
Arnold Ramirez, counselor .The
mural shows the anguish and the
hurt the Chieanos have lived with.
The mural has all the faces of the
people who were important in
Chicano history such as Mexican
dictator Porfirio Diaz, revolutionist Pancho Villa and late United
Farmer Workers leader Cesar
Chavez.

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

By RAY ARMENDARIZ
Staff Writer
If formerPCC student GiiiUenn#
iMartinez had walked into the C
building a few months ago, he would
have been very disappointed and
hurt to see what had happened to his
hard work.
His mural that has been hanging
in the G building since 1973 called
-'The Chicano Mind" is unknown to
many students.
It's so unknown that wheriit was
vandalized nobody said anything
until the right person noticed the
long slashes, coffee and soda stains
on the mural.
One day Bob Navarro, chairman
of engineering and technology
stopped to admire the mural and
noticed the damage. "It was ugly,"
he said. He decided that something
should be done to restore Martinez's
work. "My first concern was just to
have the cuts taken cared of. We
had no idea that the art department
would bring out the colors which
were fantastic."
La Raza member Imelda
Martinez, who is also an affirmative action representative, called
La Raza president Cela Espinoza
Hancuff, who brought up the need
for the restoration of the mural.
HOWARD BURGER/The COURIER
Mural about the ordeals of Chieanos was vandalized. It was restored by art professor Ben Sakoguchi.
'This is the only Mexican-American mural we have on campus and
we must preserve our art and tradition. La Raza's role is to ensure that
Latinos are treated fairly," Hancuff
said.
She added that "the old library
would be a good place to move the
m ural" and said that the new library
"would even be better."
"Guillermo was a student of mine
and I think it is horrible to see any
art damaged," said art proffesor
Ben Sakoguchi, who restored the
vandalized mural. He added that
Martinez would be more hurt than
angry to see the mural.
The southeast stairwell in the C
building between the second and
third floors where the mural hangs
was closed off while Sakoguchi
patched up the 2 foot by 7 inch
slashes from behind the mural.
.Hancuff helped clean with a mild
detergent.
"Hie restoring process took a
week and a half because we had to
let things dry before moving on.
After it was done I varnished it with
a gloss medium which is a polymer
arcrylic used for coating paintings,"
Sakoguchi said.
Sakoguchi hasn't heard from
Martinez since 1979 when Martinez
sent him a postcard from
Guanajuato, Mexico. "Since it's
the 20th anniversary, it would be
nice if Guillermo could come in
and give us his interpretation and
pick out its major point. Then we
could move it to a safer place," said
Arnold Ramirez, counselor .The
mural shows the anguish and the
hurt the Chieanos have lived with.
The mural has all the faces of the
people who were important in
Chicano history such as Mexican
dictator Porfirio Diaz, revolutionist Pancho Villa and late United
Farmer Workers leader Cesar
Chavez.

Copyright and Use

Images are for personal research, scholarly and educational purposes. Contact Shatford Library at archives@pasadena.edu for information about the reproduction of images. The Library assumes no responsibility for the improper use of any image from the Archives.